Monday, September 16, 2013

Cardboard Tsunami

Man, can't believe it's already Monday again. I've been meaning to get this posted for over a week. School has been busy and I think I ate something bad, because my rolls of toilet paper per hour usage went through the roof on Thursday and Friday, so between all that happening, I've been posting a little less frequently than usual.

Anyways, the grandest of packages came last week from Rod of Padrographs. How awesome was the stuff he sent? Well, if the sweet looking Pinnacle Gwynn wasn't enough of an indication, how about this?

This was the case that the cards were enclosed in (of course, it came in a separate box as well). Digital-camo lunch box! I want to find something really cool to do with this, short of bringing it to school with me for my lunch. I'll keep thinking on that.

Anyways, there were plenty of other non-card goodies to be had, but first things first - onto the cardboard...

Starting off with some additions to the Player Collection. Gotta love the Mother's Cookies team sets, though I prefer the earlier 90s sets. The navy and orange seems like it happened so long ago.

Oh man, talk about some sweet catcher cards. I can never get enough of the '94 Stadium Club set, and my love for Benito cardboard has already been stated previously. I kind of overlook '91 Fleer Ultra, since "kid" me loved the glossy look of '92 Fleer Ultra so much. But this Santiago card looks good.

Even the cards for the Miscellaneous Padres binder were quality. Even though they're not in the "official" Player Collection category, I always hold on to cards of these guys. Various reasons for all of them. Fernando and Rickey are legends, and Greg Vaughn was the first big trade deadline pick up that I remembered. I got Gene Harris' autograph after waiting in line at the Padres Store for a while. I remember that I got Kerry Taylor's autograph as well, but it is long gone. Oh, and as a kid, I just really liked Wally Whitehurst's name. I've always been a sucker for alliteration.

These were easily my favorites headed to the MP binder. This is my first Jesse Orosco card as a Padre. He's become a cardboard legend now that he's on the back of so many 2013 Topps cards for the most pitching appearances in history. I've been waiting to add this Jason Thompson card to my binders for a while, glad to have another Padre/surfboard combo card. Maybe if Thompson had spent less time at the beach and more time in the batting cage, he would've played more than 13 career big league games, all with the Padres in '96. Whatever, it's worth it to me for this awesome card.

Here is a quartet of cards from the 1976 SSPC set. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that Rod sent over the whole Padres team set, which is very awesome. The majority of the photos seem to be taken on the same day, as the backgrounds seem very similar. But how can you not love the brown and gold here? The Winfield card is especially sharp looking.

These were (probably?) the oldest cards in the lot. I haven't dug my screwdriver out of my toolbox yet to free these '74s from this pretty cool looking display case. I already had the Morales card, which is one of my favorite Padre cards, despite the pink Cubs header. The Glenn Beckert card is my third of the Washington "Nat'l Lea." variety, which is a very cool one to land.

Of course, being that Rod is a TTM autograph master, there was a boatload of autographed cards as well. These are... most of them.

Seeing all of these together, one thing that stands out to me is how different all these signatures look. I mean, not just in the different styles of writing, but the different types of markers/pens. I can't say that I've ever written with a marker similar to the one Tommy Layne or Logan Forsythe used on those cards. Stan Spencer and Clayton Richard look like they could've used the same marker, and the same could be said for five other guys who used a finer-tipped blue sharpie. Man, how cool would all the emerald Padres from this year's Topps set look together? I'll never know.

These are my second and third Heath Bell autos, none being from the "certified" variety. Decided to show the 2010 Topps card because I had never noticed the "Just Married" sign in the top left corner of the card. Has anybody ever made a sign and brought it to a game? I feel like I made one or two when I was a kid, but felt kinda weird bringing it into the stadium, so I left it at home. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. If you don't recognize the card on the right...

it's because it's Heath Bell's own card. Shares the testimony of his faith and how it is that he drew near to Christ. Maybe some people think this is hokey (and maybe it is a little), but I think it's pretty cool to do. They can't all wear Tim Tebow eyeblack, I guess. I've said it before, Bell's had a rough career since leaving San Diego, and I'm not sure how his personality has worked with the areas that he's played in, but I liked him a lot in San Diego.

Speaking of not getting along with people, here's Carlos Quentin. I'm not sure that CQ will ever be able to do anything big enough to ever be remembered by the casual fan as someone besides "the guy who broke Zack Greinke's collarbone". Being a Padres fan, I'll remember him as a slugger (29 homers in 168 games with San Diego) who had a hard time staying healthy long enough to make a big enough impact on the team. And the guy who broke Greinke's collarbone.

Ok, so Rod emailed me a while back and said that he had the Wally Joyner autograph from this year's Allen & Ginter release, and that it was mine if I wanted it. That was a no brainer. Little did I know that Joyner wouldn't be traveling by himself! I was SO stoked to see Joyner make the auto list on A&G, and surprised to see that he was included as a Padre! Can't say that I'm in love with the image that they used here, but even though I'm a Friar fan, it's not the same seeing Joyner not wearing an Angels uniform. Good signature by Wally here. Not sure if it was the highlight of the package, but definitely up there.

Here are some mystery autographs on index cards. I'd be willing to bet that the one on the top left is Tim Stauffer, and that the one on the bottom left is Andrew Cashner. Kinda cheating because I already have a pair of autos from Straight Cash Homey, but he also made it easy and put his number in there. The initials on the one on the bottom right look like "NV", with the only current match being Nick Vincent. Don't think that's him. Also, #45 on the team right now is relief pitcher Colt Hynes, and that doesn't look like him on the top right. A blind stab in the dark on the auto in the left middle looks like Damian Jackson, but he hasn't played on the Padres since 2005, and he was #2 when he played here, not... well, whatever number that is. Any help on uncovering these mystery signers is appreciated.

Ok, I already have this sweet looking Kurt Stillwell card (I don't mind showing it again), but I put it next to the 1978 All Star Game patch to show scale. How cool is that. Rod didn't say where/how he got this, but I'll assume that it was ripped right off of Rollie Fingers' jersey after the game. Very cool to have!

But not as cool as this! This is the nameplate from a David Wells jersey! Awesome! I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of Boomer by any stretch, but this is a cool piece and Wells was still a pretty big name in baseball, whether you liked him or not. This might've been cooler than the Joyner auto, but not by much. I need to find something cool to do with this as well.

After all this goodness, what could I possibly give in return? I remember an email conversation I had with another Padre blogger about how Rod probably has every Padre card ever made, which means there's no way to every pay him back. I'd wager that finding a Padre card that Rod needs is more difficult than finding a Dodger that Night Owl needs. That's saying something.

There are times when I think that my own collection of Padres is pretty staggering, and there must be some point when I'll be done. And then I get one of these.

Another Archi Cianfrocco card! As awesome as everything else in this package was, the fact that I was able to add another Archi card to my archives is just icing on the cake! Thanks a lot for all the great stuff Rod! Another masterpiece!

2 comments:

I went to EBay and looked at the autos on the Padres cards that were for sale...Looking at those autographs, The top auto indeed looks like Stauffer's. I believe the top auto on the lower left hand is Dale Thayer and the one below it is Andrew Cashner. The bottom right is Nick Vincent #50. The top right auto belongs to Anthony Bass.

If I were you, I'd bring the Padres lunchbox to work. I bring a Dr. Who Tartus metal lunch box to work, myself.

About Me:

I'm a Padres fan that moved from San Diego to Texas. Grew up in the 90s, and have stuck with 'em through the lean years and... not as lean years. Can't stop rooting for my Friars, even living 1,307 miles from Petco Park. My wife and two kids are pretty rad. I'm also a first grade teacher, and I love my job.